Friday

Dollar and I went to see a matinee of Alien: Covenant yesterday. Since it was the first show of the day at 4:10 and the theater doesn't open until 15 min before, I had 10 min to kill. And Morano Gelato is right next door, so... I went in to try something and OMFG. I got a baby cup of hazelnut... just a small taste. I took a bite somehow refrained from pounding my fist on the counter and demanding, "GIVE ME A BABY CUP OF EV-ER-Y-THING!" Yeah, it's that good.

Thursday

I'm soooo glad I got new things at the Hanover Garden Club plant sale. The woodchucks just loooooove them- they appear to be quite delicious.

Harrumph. This is a learning process, I guess. The woodchucks devoured the english daisy, pincushion flower (NOOOOOO) and scabiosa. Left alone (so far) is the bugbane, lobelia and sweet woodruff. I'm ordering more fake snakes...

Candytufy in the back yard doing well:

Soloman's seal doing it's thing:

Creeping thyme starting to bloom:

Bungleweed bungling:

New succulent rock garden in a container:

I had a couple things in that container last year that died because the soil got so dry. I'll try to get a better eye on it this year but hopefully succulent will be a little more forgiving.

One of the little ornamental trees trimmed of dead branches, weeded, composted and mulched.

Last night's project, one of the side flowerbeds:

I didn't mean to spend the whole evening on it but mulching took much long than I expected. I cut my lavender plants way back earlier in the spring and they looked quite dead for a while. But new vegetation is coming up and I'm so relieved. I loved cutting and drying lavender for sachets last year. One lavender plant was kind of getting swallowed up by the daisies, so I dug it up, divided it into 5 bits and replanted those around this flower bed. More lavender. MORE.

Monday

Things are really starting to grow after weeks of rain and then a super sunny week.

Primula in the back shade bed:

Teeny, tiny little Victorian laced primrose:

Old fashioned bleeding hearts:

I went to Home Depot this past weekend and found many spring shade perennials discounted- columbine, sweet woodruff, primula similar to the pink one above in deep purple, red and yellow! They all went into this flower bed behind the house. Also- the Dutchman's breeches that wasn't growing abundantly? I went to dig it up to move it and found the problem- a rock the size of a gigantic watermelon three inches under the plant. I heaved the rock out, filled in the gaping hole with new soil and put the dicentra back. Maybe NEXT year I'll see some real action on that plant.

Around front in the sun, irises are starting:

Love this- will be dividing it next week to give a bit to some people.

Dwarf bearded irises in light purple down in the big sun bed:

I had no idea what color they would be (or that they would be dwarf)- I don't remember who I got them from. Last year was the first year I worked on the lower sun bed and these irises were a little too traumatized from being moved around to bloom. Glad they are coming back!

After a week in the 90s, the weather this weekend was heaven. High 60s / low 70s and sunny sunny sunny:

I went to the Hanover Garden Club sale and got so much- creeping phlox, pink daylily, lobelia, sabiosa, helenium, astrantia. The lobelia and astrantia (and some bugbane) went into the part-sun bed:

Widened, weeded, mulched. I first dug out this L-shaped bed in front of an old rock wall two years ago. I planted some things and then kind of ignored it last year. This year I gave it some TLC so hopefully all I have to do this summer is weed periodically and add new stuff. Plants doing well in the bed: hostas, catmint, soloman's seal, lady's mantle, astilbe, foxglove (although, this may be their last year), lily of the valley, columbine, balloon flower (juuuuuust coming up out of the ground now), Japanese fern, tall phlox, heuchera, various primula. I've got some bunchberry that isn't dead... but isn't particularly thriving.

Friday

A couple things of fiber to spin, one skein of yarn, some pewter buttons (for bay-bay sweaters!), goat's milk soap (gifted a couple bars to my mom and sister) and some handwoven cotton towels (gifted to Dollar's mom). Pretty reserved, if I do say so myself.

I'm suffering from a bout of knitting/crochet ennui. I'm still working on the Lost in Time crochet shawl, approaching the end of the second ball, and the rows are starting to take a long time to complete. I still have a couple small amigurumi to finish- I just need to sit down at a desk and finish them. I tried starting a pair of stranded socks but I messed up the pattern a bit and got frustrated...

Hanover Garden Club plant sale tomorrow and I am so excited! I always end up getting 10 - 12 new things! I've already accumulated a decent pile of perennials to plant this year during my week-long gardening staycation during Memorial Day week... Sooooon.

I started this back in March and it was a quick knit. It has been finished and folded in the bottom of my knitting basket for weeks. With my niece's birthday only a few days away, I had to weave in ends and wash/block the blanket.

The yarn is great- superwash merino/microfiber blend (so soft). I just threw it into the washing machine and ran it on a cold/delicate cycle, then dried flat on a blocking board.

Thursday

She did much better than the first time (when she didn't even make it out the front door)- adventuring along the front of the house and into the flower beds. But she doesn't listen too good- I assume this is why we don't see cats out for walks on leashes everywhere.

I tried things like "No." "Stop eating the grass." "Come on." "This way!" "COME ON" "NOOOO!" until I had to just pick her up and put her where I wanted. She wants to go from A to B like a cat would- jumping down some rocks. She doesn't understand, "No, we have to go the long way around because I'm not a cat and it would be awkward for me to jump down the way you want to go."

It was all very different from Murderface, who just wants to lay in sun with a nice breeze. Penny's more "What's that? I'm scared. I'm gonna eat some grass. What's in that hole? I'm going to eat more grass. I want to go over here.... Over heeeeeere. Fine, I'll just eat more grass."

Wednesday

So, I ordered some plastic snakes and a couple gecko statues to put around the flowers beds, to dissuade woodchucks and chipmunks from eating and digging up things:

If the snakes work, I'll order some more.

The gecko statues are high quality. I took them out from the packaging and thought, "Whoa, these are nice and hefty. Too bad I'm putting them outside."

But it's not like we HAVE geckos around here, so I'm worried it will make the woodchucks more curious than frightened and draw them closer to check it out... and eat all the echinacea. It would be my luck for this plan to backfire. I would like owls and foxes and dogs,

The other gecko is down in the lower flowerbed, guarding home hollyhock.

In the back shade bed, dutchman's breeches:

This plant has never been robust where it is now and I'll be moving it this year.

Tuesday

I signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) a couple years ago. They're pretty popular in Vermont- you pay for a share of a farm's harvest early in the year and then receive weekly produce throughout the summer. I didn't do it last year and missed the variety/regularity of vegetables. I signed up again this year and picked up my bonus share at the farm on Sunday:

I was expecting some spinach, kale... just some greens. It was so much stuff: carrots, parsnips, beets, radish, baby bok choy, mustard greens, kale, salad greens, two bags of spinach.

So I got home from work Monday and got to cooking.

- peeled/sliced carrots for snacks
- blanched all the spinach (to be used in quiche)
- kale/bacon/onion/white bean stew for dinner

Not CSA related but I baked a loaf of no-knead bread to go with the stew. And simmered a pot of frozen blueberries with maple syrup and cinnamon down to a compote to mix into yogurt. Using up last year's blueberries to make room in the freezer for blueberries this year.

And the spring-dug parsnips were turned into cake:

I know. I was looking for parsnip recipes and found this one on epicurious: Parsnip Spice Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting. All the reviews were good so I gave it a go. It was straight-forward to make and really tasty. Like carrot cake bit with shredded parsnips instead. Who knew.

I made a few minor modifications based on what I did/didn't have one hand- no walnuts, buttermilk instead of whole milk, used ground ginger rather than fresh in the frosting, used 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar in the frosting (recipe calls for 3 cups and I was like... no).

Saturday was the festival. It was overcast. Sprinkled a bit. Chilly. BUT it wasn't overly muddy and I wore my Moonlight Sonata shawl. I don't know why but the sheep at this festival were overly cute.

That face. I'm not saying that the sheep at VT Sheep and Wool and the Tunbridge Fair are ugly but... people must only bring their cutest breeds to MD Sheep and Wool. They were all so adorable.

My friend hadn't seen sheepdog demonstrations before, so this was a good experience:

I've got to talk her into coming up for the Scottish Games in Quechee in August- those are proper (scored) trials in a big, green field and so much fun to watch.

We saw T-rex spinning some yarn:

Lots of vendors, lots of stuff to buy. I have a million, bajillion skeins of yarn and bundles of fiber to spin so I didn't get much on that front. I was mostly looking for mother's day gifts (found a couple nice hand-woven cotton towels), soap (homemade soaps are my fave!) and buttons.

The real treat for me were the fiber competition winners/results. So many talented fibers artists creating and entering items that were really amazing.

This handspun yarn was beyond awesome:

Two-ply. One ply had grey cocoons. Then she plied them together (so the "sheep" popped out) and added a black face to every single sheep. Then when you knit it up, it looks like little sheep grazing in a green pasture. It's so genius.

And so many amazing hooked rugs, beaded shawls, photographs... Seeing all that stuff was the highlight of the festival for me.

Then back to VA and out to a Korean restaurant for dinner:

Two kinds of meat bbq'd at the table, ssam, banchan for days, makgeolli. I had to waddle out to the car after. Then back home Sunday morning:

The flight to/from Burlington - DC is about an hour. Such an easy trip- I plan on making it more often.

Thursday

Not as colorful as all the other Lost in Times I've seen but it should be a nice, subtle gray shawl. I'm on my 2nd ball of sock yarn. Might have to do an edge of some sort across the top to make it nice and tidy.

So I didn't get as much crocheting done in April as I wanted. I definitely prefer to be outside gardening when the weather is nice. I have a couple small amigurumi to finish.

I've got to figure out some travel knitting for my flights this weekend... I think colorwork socks. Because if they come out nice, off to the Fair they go this fall.

Weather's not looking awesome for MD Sheep and Wool. Could be rainy/muddy/cold. Might have to bring a big wool shawl instead of the linen one I was planning on.

Wednesday

Down by the brook, the bloodroot is blooming (this is my favorite wild, woodland flower):

I finally cleaned up the back shade bed and the lungwort is starting to bloom:

In the five years that we've been living at the house, I've never had a good show from the azalea shrubs. I don't know what's different about this year but they're blooming like crazy:

Hostas, soloman's seal, lily of the valley, peony- the tips of these things are only just starting to poke up. We are getting so much rain that I can't do much outside. But all the perennials should be going like gangbusters soon.

I'm trying to find some inexpensive fox lawn decorations. I want to put some realistic fox (or other predator) figures around plants that the woodchucks keep eating- to see if that will deter them. Maybe an owl will work.

Tuesday

Saturday we took a trip across the state to Horsford Gardens & Nursery in Charlotte, VT. We had a bit of a late start due to a car appointment I had at 10 am (why does it take 2.5 hours to swap out seasonal tires? WHYYY?) so we actually didn't hit the road until 2pm. We took the "scenic route" on our way there (Warren Mountain > Roxbury Gap > Lincoln Gap) and didn't arrive until 4 pm. The nursery closes at 5pm. And there was SO much to see.

One of the annuals greenhouses:

The perennials outside:

This whole section I'm standing in and all that stuff on the other side of the road- all perennials. Such an incredible selection. Easily the biggest nursery I've ever been to with the largest selection. Wish they offered smaller $5 pots rather than the 2-year $15 pots. I never know (a) what the woodchucks are going to eat, (b) what's going to survive at my elevation, so I'd rather not invest $15 per plant. But. That didn't stop me from getting a wagon full of new stuff:

Two fruit trees, a chokeberry shrub, lots of sedum and and other perennials. Now I have to plant them all!

And speaking of gardening, the Hanover Garden Club plant sale is coming up: Saturday, May 20, 9am - 12pm. I love love love love getting plants here- little pots that are only $2 or $3. I've gotten SO many plants here that are thriving at my house. And a few things that didn't work out, so I've only lost a few bucks. This is so worth attending if you live local.

Monday

The weather was gorgeous Friday afternoon. We put the harness on Murderface and took him for a walk:

He made it about 2.5 feet from the front door before flopping over and rolling around in the sun:

He's such a good boy- all he wants to do is stay around the house and lay in the sun. We have too many wild animals to get him do that unsupervised (a fox grabbed a woodchuck last year right at the end of the house, so predators do come that close) but he doesn't seem to mind the harness. We'll take him for more walks this summer. Penny doesn't mind the harness either but she's never been an outdoor cat so the outside is scary. We're trying to get her to come outside on a leash. Santana? Santana has shown NO interest in going back outside (she had a pretty rough outdoor life) and I wouldn't even want to attempt to put a harness on her.

Looking forward to a short work week- Maryland Sheep and Wool, here I come!